The Rev. Al Sharpton throws his support behind Mayor Linda Thompson during a stop in Harrisburg to rally voters

And when he started speaking Friday afternoon, the Rev. Al Sharpton talked about the importance of the right to vote.

He told a crowd of more than 100 at the PA Voter Engagement Luncheon that the nation was watching Pennsylvania. You fought the Voter ID law, Sharpton said, and won for this election. Now you have to show up Nov. 6.

The crowd clapped.

But the people thundered when Sharpton railed against conservatives and touted President Barack Obama’s record. They leapt to their feat when he defended his host, Mayor Linda Thompson.

And as Sharpton’s 20-minute ovation came to a close, he made it clear whom the people — now understanding the power of voting — should pull the lever for.

“In 2010 ... we went to sleep and that’s how the tea party took over,” Sharpton boomed. “If we go to sleep in 2012, the forces that want to take Social Security and Medicare funds will take over permanently.”

Sharpton’s afternoon visit to the Goodwin Memorial Baptist Church Family Life Center was part of a day of activities designed to promote voter registration and voter participation. Goodwin Memorial is Thompson’s church, and her pastor, the Rev. James D. Jackson, opened the luncheon with a prayer.

From the podium, Sharpton — an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and MSNBC host — made it clear he’s a Thompson backer.

“For years, you had a ‘mayor for life,’ ” Sharpton said. “Now you have a black woman for mayor, and insecure black men try to tear her down.

“When the others were in, you had nothing to say. When a woman gets in, all of a sudden you find your manhood. You are nothing but dividers and enemies of progress. I mean, when did you discover your guts? You didn’t discover your guts before.”

Thompson didn’t ask for his help, Sharpton said. Some of his Harrisburg supporters have told him about the mayor.

“I say what I’ve got to say,” Sharpton said. “I’m tired of every time our children get someone to look up to, out of pettiness we tear them down.”

Sharpton’s stop in Harrisburg was part of a national tour leading up to the election. He hailed Pennsylvania’s activists for fighting the Republican-backed voter ID law, which he called an attempt to disenfranchise minority voters.

The Rev. Al Sharpton visits HarrisburgThe Rev. Al Sharpton speaks during an appearance at the National Action Network Pa. Voter Engagement Luncheon at the Goodwin Memorial Baptist Church Family Life Center.

“We are not against ID,” Sharpton said. “We are against a new photo ID. Why can’t we vote with the ID we always used? The ID we used when Nixon ran, when Reagan ran, when Clinton ran, when Bush ran. Why do we have to use a new ID when it comes time for President Obama to run for re-election?”

He praised Obama for passing the Affordable Care Act and blasted conservatives saying health insurance should be an issue best left to the states, comparing it to the “states rights” argument for slavery.

“If we were still in states rights,” Sharpton said, “blacks would still be in the back of the bus and women would still be in the kitchen.”

It is the responsibility of everyone in the room to vote and push their neighbors to vote with an aim of record turnout, Sharpton said. They needed to make sure everyone understood that no voter will be required to show a photo ID in this election.

“Part of the argument was voter ID would impede voting,” Sharpton said. “Well if you don’t vote anyhow, there was nothing that was impeded. So if the ministers and the community leaders cannot inspire people to come out and vote, we have won an empty victory and Pennsylvania will be a national embarrassment.”

On Friday, the groups that sued the state over the voter ID law — including the ACLU and the NAACP — asked a judge to bar the state from airing what it claims are misleading and confusing advertisements on the issue.

The court’s initial ruling against the voter ID law only affects this year’s election. If nothing changes, voters will need to show a photo idea in the primary elections next spring — including in the next mayoral election.

“We’re going to fight it,” Sharpton said. “But first, we need to show people want to vote. Then we’ll fight it more.”

Before leaving town for New York, Sharpton gave the keynote address at an early evening voter rally at Camp Curtin School in uptown Harrisburg.

Keying on the same themes he covered earlier in the day, Sharpton told a crowded auditorium that Latinos, women and blacks had to fight for the right to vote.

If Harrisburg residents don’t get out and vote, especially after the controversial voter ID law was recently temporarily shot down in Pennsylvania, the struggle for the right to vote means nothing, he said.

“People had to die to give us the right to vote,” Sharpton said. “Here you are 40 years later in Harrisburg ... just too lazy and ungrateful to use what others paid the price to give you.”

Before ending his speech, Sharpton reminded the crowd to always work for good in the world.

“You and I who claim to know better, should show better,” he said. “I don’t care what title you got, if you aren’t functioning to do better, your title don’t mean nothing to nobody.” Staff writer Eric Veronikis contributed to this report.

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